Hey Dad, Dad!»
The man, quietly conversing with a young woman so as not to disturb other patients, turned to his daughter.
«Nastya, behave yourself.»
«Dad, I’m tired of sitting here. I’ve already told Liza everything. Can I walk down the hall?»
«Nastya, of course not. There are sick people here; they need peace.»
The woman smiled.
«Vit, don’t be so strict. Nastya will just walk around. Right, girl? She won’t bother anyone.»
The girl nodded energetically, then showed her father as if she was locking her mouth with a key. Viktor smiled. He adored his daughter. Just as much as his sister, whom he affectionately called Lizka. She was hospitalized with appendicitis, but now everything was fine, and she was to be discharged in a couple of days.
They all missed her, especially Nastya, since Liza had replaced her mother, although she was still quite young herself. When Viktor’s wife died, Liza came immediately.
«Casually,» she had said. «I’ll stay with you, it’ll be easier with Nastya, and anyway.»
Viktor knew Liza had sacrificed her career. Temporarily, but still. She worked at a large company where she was predicted to have a successful future, and she left just before a promotion.
Nastya went out into the corridor, looked around. It seemed no one paid attention to her, so she could again go see the sleeping princess. Behind a glass door, on a strange bed, lay a beautiful princess.
She was so beautiful that Nastya was breathless. The girl was sure she was indeed the sleeping princess, as Liza had recently read her a fairy tale.
But in the fairy tale, a prince woke the princess, but here she still slept. Nastya reasoned, «Maybe the prince got lost or something happened to him, and the princess fell asleep again.»
The girl slowly walked down the corridor. Patients walked back and forth. Some children also came to visit, so no one paid attention to Nastya. When she returned to the ward, she heard her father’s question:
«Well, did you have a good walk?»
The girl looked scared.
«Dad, tell me, can sleeping princesses be given injections not by doctors but by just people?»
«Well, why not? Doctors are people too. They can’t always be in white coats.»
Nastya sighed with relief. She kissed Liza.
«We’ll come again tomorrow. Don’t miss us.»
Liza hugged her niece.
«Oh, you don’t need to come tomorrow. If everything is okay, they’ll discharge me the day after tomorrow.»
Nastya frowned.
«No, we’ll still come to make sure everything is okay.»
Liza laughed, and Viktor said with a smile:
«You can’t fool our Nastya.»
The next day at the clinic began with confusion. No doctors had encountered a situation where relatives themselves demanded to disconnect a patient from machines. Usually, it was the opposite.
Liza barely caught the attending doctor. Roman Evgenievich stopped, looked at her with a strange glance, then shook his head.
«Ah, Elizaveta, what’s wrong? Worried?»
«Worried. You didn’t come today, and I don’t know whether to prepare for discharge tomorrow? I need to warn the relatives to bring things.»
«Elizaveta, let’s do this. I have an important council now. Honestly, I can’t think of anything else. I’ll visit everyone closer to evening and explain everything. And call the relatives. Agreed?»
Liza sighed.
«Agreed.»
«Can I go home today?»
«Today you can’t. It’s only been three days since the surgery.»
Liza sighed and, head bowed, went back to the ward. The doctor stood as if remembering where he was going, then raised his finger and quickly walked down the corridor.
Roman Evgenievich had felt uneasy since the morning. He was an old-school doctor and used to fight for a patient’s life to the end. But here a complicated situation arose. And most surprisingly, some colleagues supported the patient’s husband, who insisted on disconnecting her from the machines.
He couldn’t understand it. Yes, the brain was in a state of sleep, but it wasn’t dead. It’s unknown how long she could lie in such a state. But there were no clear indications for disconnection. Yes, the chances of recovery were minimal, but they were still there. If not for her husband’s persistence, this question might not even have arisen.
Half an hour later, all the doctors who observed Inna gathered in the ward. She had been admitted to them after falling from a great height. According to the protocol, she climbed into the attic of her house, supposedly for a cat, but lost her balance and fell.
The house was two-story and sturdy, so the fall was serious. She was immediately taken to the hospital. Numerous fractures, injuries. But the most dangerous thing was that the woman almost immediately fell into a coma.
Doctors hoped it was a reaction to pain shock, and that she would soon wake up. But time passed, and there were no improvements. Yesterday evening, her husband called and demanded to disconnect Inna from the machines.
«I’ve been living in limbo for a long time! Honestly, I’ve already mentally buried her. Even if you ever wake her up, she’ll most likely be a vegetable. At best. It’s been over three months. I’m her heir, and I demand to settle this matter.»
Talking to this person was unpleasant. But he really had the right to such a demand. However, the final decision remained with the council. If the majority votes «for,» the machines will be disconnected. If not, the process may drag on for another three months. And everyone understood that the man only wanted money. He was lazy and a do-nothing.
As Roman Evgenievich expected, opinions were divided. Half the doctors thought they should continue to fight. What «vegetable» can there be if the brain functions? All hemispheres work. It’s necessary to find the reason why the patient does not come out of the coma.
One of the young doctors sneered.
«You think the old-fashioned way. Look at the situation from another angle. What about the relatives? How should they live?»
Roman Evgenievich got angry.
«And what about the relatives? It’s not their life. Deciding whether to deprive a person of life or not can only be done by higher powers.»
«Roman Evgenievich, you might as well suggest we pray.»
«Some might benefit from praying, to cleanse themselves of sin a bit.»
The young doctor meaningfully looked at the patient’s husband, as if twirling his finger at his temple. He stepped forward.
«Listen, why do you need extra problems? You understand, sooner or later they will disconnect her anyway. I’m the heir, and I’ll remember who hindered me. She doesn’t move, doesn’t react for more than three months. Isn’t it obvious that this is the end?»
Doctors exchanged glances. Of course, there were indications, but in some ways, the man was right: after such a term, the chances of recovery were practically zero.
«Well, colleagues, your opinion?»
The ward fell silent for a moment. Then it was interrupted by a child’s voice:
«Not true. This beautiful aunt opened her eyes, smiled at me, and then this uncle came, she got scared, he gave her an injection, and she fell asleep again.»
Roman Evgenievich rushed to the source of the voice.
«You? Do you come to Elizaveta Sidorova?»
«Yes, and every time I visit this beautiful aunt. Yesterday she opened her eyes and smiled.»
«This is nonsense! You’re going to listen to a child?» — the patient’s husband grabbed the girl by the shoulder, intending to push her out of the ward, but other doctors intervened.
The department head said sternly:
«Everyone, leave the ward. Put a guard at the door. Roman Evgenievich, find someone adult to stay with the child while we question her.»
«I won’t leave until you disconnect the machines!» — the man retreated under the doctor’s gaze. — «You’ll regret this.» — He ran out of the ward.
One of the doctors returned with Viktor. He looked scared.
«Nastya, sunshine, what have you done?»
Roman Evgenievich reassured him:
«Don’t worry. The girl hasn’t done anything bad. We just need to ask her a few questions. We can’t do this without your presence. Let’s go to the office.»
«Nastenka, tell us again, only in more detail, what you saw.»
The girl sighed, looked at her father, and sighed again.
«When we came to visit Liza, I always went to see the sleeping princess. This time I went again. I looked at her, and suddenly she opened her eyes. First, she looked around, and then she smiled at me. She whispered something, but I couldn’t hear it. Then that uncle came. The princess got scared, he gave her an injection, and she fell asleep again.»
Viktor nodded.
«Yes, yesterday my daughter asked if princesses can be given injections not by doctors, but by ordinary people. I didn’t take it seriously. I thought it was just children’s fantasies.»
The department head exclaimed:
«Wait, where was the nurse? Nastenka, did you see the nurse?»
«Well yes, she was there too. But when the uncle came, they… they kissed, and she left.»
The room fell into dead silence. Then Roman Evgenievich said:
«Could this be why the journal disappeared?»
Everyone looked at each other, and the chief physician said:
«Okay, I’m calling the police. You all go to the patient. Do all the tests, record all the readings, but find out what he injected her with.»
Now the hospital was in real chaos. Doctors and nurses were running around as if they all had jet engines. Then the police arrived. Then the head of the department brought the nurse into his office.
She was led out of the hospital. All the patients who could move on their own spilled into the corridor. You can’t hide a sewing needle in a sack, and many began to leave home on their own. There was so much noise, as if it wasn’t a hospital, but a madhouse.
Viktor sat with Liza for a long time. He didn’t understand whether he and Nastya could go home, or if they were still needed. Just before the hospital closed to visitors, a tired Roman Evgenievich came to them.
«Liza, home tomorrow. Could you leave your phone number? You’ll probably be called to the station along with your daughter to give testimony? Yes, of course.»
Viktor wrote down everything required and handed it to the doctor. Nastya touched his hand.
«Did the sleeping princess wake up?»
The doctor smiled.
«Almost. Very close. It’s a matter of a few hours. Imagine, you saved her life. Or woke her up.»
The doctor left the office, and Liza and Viktor said simultaneously:
«Well, Nastya.»
She blurted out by habit:
«And what about Nastya? Why immediately Nastya?»
Then she fell silent, confused. They weren’t scolding her, were they?
Almost a month passed since Liza was discharged from the hospital. She had already forgotten that they had once removed something from her. Today was Nastya’s 7th birthday. And at home, they were preparing for the celebration. Her birthday was on the eve of Victory Day. And therefore, the mood was somewhat festive.
They sat down at the table at five. Nastya’s friends came, their parents, and just as they began to cut the cake, the doorbell rang. Viktor raised an eyebrow in surprise. Who could it be? Liza waved her hand.
«I’ll open it.»
She returned a minute later with wide eyes.
«Nastya, you have guests!»
Behind Liza, an incredibly beautiful woman entered the room. Behind her, two short-haired men, who carried boxes and bags.
«Hello! Hello, my savior!»
Nastya jumped up and clapped her hands.
«Hooray! The sleeping princess woke up! And you’re even more beautiful than when you were asleep!»
Inna sat down and hugged her.
«Thank you, my dear. I will never forget this. And I will always help you throughout your life. Well, my life, actually.»
«Inna? No way.»
She straightened up, looked at Viktor in surprise.
«Vitka, Sidorov? How? Wait, is this your daughter?»
He nodded, and then couldn’t help himself. He hugged Inna, and she hugged him back.
«Vitka, you always protected me from everyone at school, and now? Now your daughter saved me.»
Absolutely no one understood anything. Viktor explained.
«Inna and I went to the same school. Everyone was in love with her, including me. But since I was an athlete, only I was allowed to escort Inna and fend off her persistent suitors.»
She laughed.
«And then we moved, I lost my protector, and I married him. Well, let’s not talk about the sad things. Come on, guys, bring out the gifts. I hope there’s a place for me at your table.»
Liza winked at her older brother and whispered:
«It looks like I can now peacefully return to my career.»
Viktor blushed, showed his sister a fist, and rushed to help Inna. His mind was in complete chaos. Only one thought was clear: «The princess has woken up, the princess is single, and she’s here.»
And a year later, Nastya’s mother became the princess. And also, she promised that soon she would have a little prince brother.
